Regarding the tug of war being played out by the US and Russian heads of state in a number of current conflicts, one could make the case that Russia, not the US, has scored more points thus far. Speaking on “Reporteritund,” however, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marina Kaljurand found that Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t have the advantage over just the US president, but rather the whole of the West, as centered around the EU and NATO.

"It can be said, for example, that Putin overpowered the EU by occupying Crimea, as this happened in our immediate vicinity, and while we knew what to expect after Georgia, we did not know how to react,” admitted the foreign minister. “I don’t want to draw a comparison to tug-of-war between just Presidents Putin and Obama — really, this is going into conflict with the entire West.”

Considering recent years’ developments, one could say that the goal of the Putin administration was to break down the NATO and the EU’s solidarity. “I don’t think that Putin would try to use the Syrian confict to help break up NATO, but naturally Putin would love to see NATO splinter just as Russia has masterfully played various EU states against one another,” said Kaljurand.

The minister stressed, however, that NATO is currently much more united than the EU, and discussions within the alliance are more unified as well. “It is occasionally curious to see colleagues of mine who tell one story to NATO, but tell a slightly different one to the EU,” added Kaljurand. “It is good to be the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, as I tell the same story regardless of where I am.”

Moscow has made the Syrian conflict more complex

The Syrian civil war has not left the EU untouched, however, as after Russian began intervening in Middle Eastern conflicts, the number of refugees fleeing the region increased, deepening the migration crisis that had developed in EU states as a result. The deepening of the crisis in turn has led to a rise in popularity of extreme right-wing populist powers, which have received direct or indirect support from the Kremlin.

Kaljurand noted that Russia’s active interference in both the Syrian civil war and the Geneva peace process has made the situation especially complicated and confusing.

“I do agree that migration has torn Europe apart,” she admitted. “If we look back to a year ago, when the committee presented member states with initial quotas for the number of refugees required to be accepted by each country, then this tore Europe apart, and getting over this rift took nealy half a year.”

Kaljurand noted that, in her opinion, there was still a lot of finger-pointing and blaming going on as recently as last summer, at a gathering of EU foreign ministers, but such attitudes started to change as it began to become clear that the crisis would not be going anywhere, and that in-fighting and isolation between member states would clearly not lead anywhere either.

“Russia has achieved the goal of EU member states starting to splinter from one another,” added Kaljurand, “But therein I see some positive as well: it is now understood that if we do not work together, then right-wing, extremist, and populist parties rise to power.

EU will not shut its doors

In the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs’ opinion, the EU needs to focus on the migration crisis, because political decisions have been made, but they have not been implemented effectively enough, including the securing of external borders, fighting against organized crime on the Mediterranean Sea, or the rejection and return of economic migrants back to their homelands.

This is why the deal signed between the EU and Turkey was so practical and important, added Kaljurand, because the migration crisis had no hope of being solved without help from partner states.

“Europe is not losing its humanity, as we are accepting those refugees who are fleeing from war,” stressed Kaljurand. “We will not be closed to those people who want to come here to work or study. These are just different means, and applications, and a different procedure altogether for entering Europe.”

This week, Estonia's ESTPLA-22 infantry platoon began patrolling in Southern Lebanon as a part of the joint Finnish-Irish Battalion serving on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeping mission in the region.

President Kersti Kaljulaid met with Mikhail Khodorkovsky at the annual conference of the Estonian Institute of Human Rights on Friday. Khodorkovsky is currently in Estonia for a conference of his Open Russia foundation.

Beginning in the new year, pensioners who wish to have their monthly pension payment delivered to them at home in cash will have to pay 6.6 euros for the service — an over one-euro increase on the current cost of 5.25 euros.

Latvian and Russian officials met on Thursday to talk about border tensions, just a day after a meeting of NATO’s foreign ministers in Brussels. The bilateral talks concentrated on the security situation along the countries’ border, the Latvian defense ministry confirmed.

Center Party MP Toomas Vitsut was elected chairman of the Riigikogu’s European Union Affairs Committee on Friday. Jaak Madison of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party was confirmed deputy chairman.

While Reform MEP Kaja Kallas has expressed her support for Hanno Pevkur as the next chairman of the Reform Party, former party chairmen Andrus Ansip and Taavi Rõivas have both thrown their support behind Kristen Michal.

The two ministers in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Kadri Simson (Center) and Urve Palo (SDE), announced on Friday that they were recalling all members of the Riigikogu currently serving on state company supervisory boards.

Increased publicity led the Center Party to earn the highest ratings of the year at the beginning of December, while support for both the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE) and the Free Party reached new lows for the year, the results of a nationwide poll commissioned by ERR’s online news portal and conducted by Turu-uuringute AS show.

Between January and Dec. 8 of 2016, ahead of the expected impending implementation of visa freedom by the EU, Estonia issued visas to a combined total of just under 15,000 citizens of either Georgia or Ukraine.

The leadership of Estonia's Center Party endorsed Tarmo Tamm as a candidate for the post of Minister of Rural Affairs on Thursday, likewise proposing that Kersti Sarapuu be elected as head of the party's parliamentary group, the position Tamm would be vacating.

Center Party Deputy Chairman and Minister of Education and Research Mailis Reps said on ETV program "Kahekõne" on Thursday night that the party's cooperation protocol with Russia's ruling party United Russia is of symbolic significance for Estonia's Russian-speaking population and the party does not dare revoke it.

The Legal Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu has decided to invite Prosecutor General Lavly Perling to join its meeting on Monday to discuss with her the leaking to the media of information with limited access gathered in the course of a criminal investigation as well as the ensuring of fair justice.

On his first visit abroad, Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (Center) stressed the importance of Estonia’s relationship with Finland, and the need that both countries continue to work on bilateral projects. He also thanked his Finnish counterpart, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä, for his personal contribution to the countries’ joint infrastructure projects.

According to allegations against him, Tallinna TV (TTV) CEO Toomas Lepp sold the TV program "Vaba mõtte klubi" ("Free Thought Club") back to the TV channel he headed via acquaintances' missing traders while still having Tallinna TV cover production costs.

The party’s secretary general, Jaak Aab, said that it wasn’t yet clear whether or not former chairman Edgar Savisaar would be helped financially to cover his legal costs. According to Aab, the party is looking into the legal costs as well as its means to help Savisaar.

Businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky-founded "Open Russia," a nationwide community platform focusing on issues such as independent media, political education and the rule of law in Russia, awarded its journalism prizes at an event held at the House of the Blackheads in Tallinn on Wednesday.

President Kersti Kaljulaid met with French president François Hollande on Wednesday. The heads of state discussed the future of the European Union and its role in world politics. Security issues, cyber security, and the potential of e-government services were on the agenda as well.

The Munich Security Conference announced on Wednesday that former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves joined their advisory council. The conference is one of the most important of its kind in the world.

In Brussels for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sven Mikser also met with Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikheil Janelidze, with whom he discussed Estonian-Georgian relations, Georgia's integration with the EU and NATO as well as Estonia's upcoming presidency of the EU.

Minister of Public Administration Mihhail Korb visited a number of municipalities and met with local government leaders in Western Estonia’s Pärnu County on Tuesday in order to get a better overview of how the administrative reform is going.

The leadership of Estonia's Center Party decided unanimously on Tuesday that the party must sell the building of its headquarters in Tallinn's medieval Old Town in order to improve its financial standing.

According to Mailis Reps, a member of the Center Party’s leadership who had read the statement of charges against Tallinn ex-mayor and former longtime party chairman Edgar Savisaar, the latter had been acting solo in the organization of party financing in recent years, with the party leadership unaware of his activities.

The Riigikogu’s Financial Affairs Committee on Tuesday supported the coalition’s proposed tax changes. According to the committee’s chairman, Mihhail Stalnuhhin (Center), the decision was voted on after a heated debate. The bill proposes substantial changes to the Estonian taxation system.